Healthy Soils Program (HSP)

The Healthy Soils Program encourages farmers to incorporate conservation agriculture techniques that improve their soil health and sequester carbon. 

This grant will provide up to $100,000 to implement healthy soils practices.

Rolling program deadline: The CDFA will start accepting applications in late February on a rolling basis for 4 months, or until the funds run out. You can submit an application and find out within 6 weeks if it is approved. If they don’t approve it, you can edit and resubmit it before the submission window has closed.

Types of projects: Your application can include a combination of up to 30 different eligible soil health practices.

• Cropland practices: 
  • These practices improve the soil’s water-holding capacity, stability, and organic matter content. 

• Compost application practices:
  • Compost may be applied to annual crops, perennial crops, orchards, and rangelands.
  • Compost can be purchased from a certified facility or produced on-farm.

• Herbaceous cover establishment:
  • These are practices that use grass to decrease wind and water erosion and keep nutrients in the soil. 

• Woody cover establishment
  • These are practices that use trees or shrubs, not grasses, to decrease wind and water erosion. 

• Grazing land practices
  • These practices aim to improve the productivity and sustainability of pastures and rangelands. 

*Full list of eligible practices and payment rates here

How to apply:

The grant process includes a web-based application consisting of a series of questions that can be saved and returned to before submitting.

It is helpful to plan your project and obtain quotes before beginning the application. Free, local technical assistance is available across the state. Contact your local Community Education Specialist for more information.

Click here to see the 2018 HSP Incentives Awardees.

Healthy Soils Demonstration Projects

Photo by Markus Winkler

Type A projects will demonstrate implementation of conservation management practices, measure field GHGs emissions, and conduct analysis on cost/benefits for adoption of the proposed practice(s) and anticipated barriers;
Type B projects will demonstrate implementation of HSP conservation management practices and/or conduct analysis on cost/benefits for adoption of the proposed practice(s) and anticipated barriers.

See the 2018 HSP Demo Awardees